Two Kinds of Blind
by Lyndotia
Summary: Oneshot. Toph is used to being blind, but she just can't understand the sort of blindness that the others seem to be afflicted with. One-sided Taang, Zutara, slight mention of Sukka.


Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters. The canon pairings would have been quite different, if I did.

A/N: I blame my overactive muse and the seventh chapter of the fic "Flirting" by Sassy08 for this story. The first five sentences made me laugh and then gave me inspiration that wouldn't let go.

**Two Kinds of Blind**

It was nearly sundown, and the atmosphere around the campfire was almost relaxed. Almost, but it never really was. Toph could feel Zuko shifting slightly every time the wind blew strangely, Aang fidgeting with his staff, Katara swirling a mist of water around her pointer finger behind her back so that she thought no one would notice. The only ones who seemed to be truly at ease were Sokka and Suki; but, then again, they didn't spend much time thinking about anything except each other since Suki's escape from that Fire Nation prison – the Molten Stone, or something like that, Toph thought. She hadn't really cared to remember anything more than the fact that the name made fire sound more powerful than earth and she hadn't liked it.

Of course, it was only to be expected that everyone would be on edge. With Sozin's comet approaching and the day of truth growing ever nearer, everything was down to them. Well, really it was down to Aang; but the rest of them knew that they would be right there with him, whatever happened. Their fates, and that of the entire world, rested on Aang's shoulders.

This didn't worry Toph; in fact, she knew that no one had a better chance of saving the world than Aang, not even any of the previous Avatars. This was his job, the one he had been saved and preserved through time to complete, and he would not fail. He couldn't. Not just because Toph didn't believe the world would fall to the Fire Nation, but because she didn't believe Aang was capable of letting that happen. He was too strong and too idealistic and too noble. Even a blind girl like Toph could see that.

A faint smile picked up the edges of Toph's mouth as that thought crossed her mind. Maybe she was blind, but she could see a lot of things the others couldn't. However, her expression fell again as she thought regretfully that Aang, too, was very blind; just in a different way.

Because Aang, despite being able to see with his eyes, couldn't seem to see the way Toph felt about him. This was the only thing about Aang that Toph couldn't understand. He could find ways out of predicaments that no one else could, but he didn't realize just what it meant when she smiled as he spoke, when he always put him first, when she planted her feet firmly and kept guard while she listened to the sound of his even breathing to be sure nothing happened while he slept…

Aang was smart, Aang was resourceful, Aang was determined… but his focus wasn't on her. Maybe that was why he couldn't seem to grasp the concept that he was more to her than just "the Avatar." He was more important to her than to the others, Toph knew that. Because none of the others cared about him the way she did, and it hurt her more than she would admit that he didn't realize that.

He was too distracted, though – too blind. When he looked at her, she didn't have to be able to see to know that he wasn't looking at her the way she wanted him to. And she didn't need her eyes to know that there _was_ someone he looked at that way, either.

Perhaps that was what hurt more than anything else. Not that Aang didn't think about her the same way she thought of him… but that he looked at Katara in a way that Toph could tell set his heart racing. And Toph knew that Katara didn't feel the same way.

It wasn't just she and Aang who were blind, Toph decided, but also Katara and Zuko. Especially Katara, because she was doubly blind. Not only did she fail to see Aang's interest, but she didn't pick up on the way Zuko acted around her, either.

Toph mostly wished that Zuko and Katara would just admit to each other how they felt. It would make things so much simpler if they did, both for them and for her. But, on the other hand… it would hurt Aang if he knew, and the last thing Toph wanted was for Aang to be hurt.

Still, it astounded her that no one else realized what was going on around the campfire tonight, and what had been going on since before Zuko had even joined them. There had always been a kind of tension between Zuko and Katara, a tension that on the surface appeared to be genuine hatred and distrust, but Toph could read better than most the emotion behind it. She knew it wasn't fear that made Katara keep turning toward Zuko whenever he sat alone; nor was it hatred that made Zuko's pulse quicken when Katara came walking toward him. Even now, as they sat side by side on the same ancient, mostly petrified log and pretended to stare into the flames, both were being very careful not to sit too close together or too far apart. It was like some strange sort of dance, Toph thought, the way they would shift slightly every now and then to maintain precisely the right amount of distance between them.

And how she wished she and Aang could be the same way. She would even be glad to be as blind as they were if it meant that Aang would feel the same way about her as she did about him. But that wouldn't happen, because her blindness was what gave her the insight to avoid the type of blindness that afflicted the others.

Sometimes Toph wanted to scream at them for being the way they were, make them understand how frustrating it was to be the only one who could see things the way she did. Maybe someday she might even do it.

But, for now, she would rather sit and consider how their blindness made hers seem less profound… and yet made the solitude of it harder to bear.


End file.
